117. JOHN DONNE: For Whom the Bell Tolls

John Donne (1572-1631) was an English poet. This passage is taken from his work Devotions of Emergent Occasions, a compilation of reflections, meditations, prose and poetry. Donne wrote the work while recovering from a serious illness and this particular quote is taken from Meditation XVII. You can read the entire verse here. This passage was made famous after Ernest Hemingway used ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ as the title for one of his most acclaimed novels.

Jeff Hanneman (1964-2013) was a guitarist and one of the founding members of the metal band Slayer. He recently passed away due to cirrhosis of the liver, after also just recovering from necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease he was diagnosed with after getting bit by a spider. Before his death, Hanneman played a gig where he proudly displayed the large scars on his arm the disease had left him with.

I will not pretend I know anything about metal – the idea of this comic was suggested to me by my brother. It’s also a total coincidence that another metal band, Metallica, have a song named For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Thanks to everyone who sent in this passage, there’s too many to name. It’s definitely one of the most-requested quotes.

As a fan of heavy metal, Slayer, Metallica and Zen Pencils, this has struck a chord with me. I can also relate easily to the main character of the comic, having played guitar in a heavy metal band in my youth and abandoning it by the time I went for college. Abandoning the guitar, that is, not heavy metal, which is still central to my life, each and everyday more important.

The feelings triggered by the death of Jeff Hanneman were very mixed. Sadness, definitely, for the passing of a man that helped define an entire genre, whose songs are widely regarded as iconic in the world of heavy metal. The band he helped create has some of the most devoted fans in the world, and I am proud to count myself among the Slayer fans. His name is besides the names of many of those classics, as he was a prolific composer. Besides sadness, I feel a lot of gratitude for everything he has given to the world of metal. He will always be among the greats. If there’s life after death, I’m sure he and Ronnie James Dio are enjoying the afterlife together as the legends they became.

WOW this is so me! I was a rockin’ guitarist in my youth. Real life intervened derailing my dreams until I lost my way being an office lackey. This year I pulled out my axe and I was resurrected shredding gain! \m/

Last year, I made a major decision and quit my cubicle job to go back to school. It was a decision made after realizing that my life was ticking away. I’m broke and we’re a paycheck away from ruin, but I haven’t been happier in the last 20 years!

I think it’s funny that you mention not knowing metal, when I see a few interesting parallels. The comic is, in general, about Jeff Hanneman and Slayer. Slayer recently went on a tour with Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth called the Big Four Tour. Further, the death of Jeff Hanneman is a pitvot point here. In the 80’s, Cliff Burton was the bassist for Metallica, and he made the opening riff to this song, probably the most famous bass riff. He died in the mid-80’s while on tour, so…a couple of parallels here that you may not have been aware of 😀

This is one of my favorite lines of poetry of all time. I write, read, and appreciate poetry. You did this quote justice and I extend my highest gratitude. This made my entire week seeing this quote in this form. Thank you.

Just wondering if that’s a misquote/typo in the fourth last panel… I have seen it as whom the bells tolls, but doesn’t really agree dramatically. Wikipedia quotes Donne (admittedly in archaic English) as:

“No man is an Island, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”

This also reminds me of the “Around the corner” comic Gav did.
I love metal. Tought I wouldn’t demand a comic depicting metal culture, thanks you did anyway.
I also love classic rock a lot.
However I was born after ’74 and never saw it’s prime.
Now I’m not a huge fan of bands who try to play gigs way past their prime. (I refuse to go to a Rolling Stones gig, simply because it’s probably gonna be their 30th goodbye tour).
Among other bands, I always wanted to see the Doors live. Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger still played live, but for the reason above I never went to see them.
However once a year there is a classic rock festival close to where I live. An older friend told me that is a an excellent Doors expierence the put togehter in their gig. So I wanted to go this summer.
Yesterday I learned that the legendary Ray Manzarek had died and I will never see him play live. I was sad.
I need to seize my oppotunities better, maybe next time it is a long estranged friend who dies… (hello, “around the corner”)

Sent me the chills. Big metal fan here (not the air-blowing type) and guitar shredder, you hit homerun. I don’t ever want to put that aside, no matter how old/serious I get. Awesome homage to Jeff too, he was such a big influence on so many people.

On a side note, he was a HUGE WWII fan, and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” being a war novel… seems appropriate 😉

The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration

Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory
The echoes of old applause

She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door…

The writer stare with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined

And streaked with tears of rage

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more…

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we’d like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee…

There is no coincidence on the link between Metallica´s song and Hemingway. The song describes the bombing of a hill during the Spanish Civil War and the deaths of the soldiers on it, just like a section of the book.

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This is really beautiful, it strikes my heart so hard, as a metalhead but also a sensitive mix of artist and engineer and a whole bunch of human being. Thank you for such a beautiful interpretation of the verse turned into a picturesque metal story.

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